Did Volkswagen Steal a Band's Sound for Polo Ad? Beach House, which turned VW down, cries foul
With the subject of ad agencies ripping off artists fresh in our minds, let's have another look at this British Volkswagen spot from DDB London, which we covered in our Ad of the Day section last month. The music sounds a lot like a song from Baltimore indie duo Beach House, and they're mad about it. Beach House had turned down offers from Volkswagen to license their song "Take Care" for the ad, so they were obviously none too pleased to hear a carbon copy of it—produced by music-production team Sniffy Dog—in the finished spot. (See the VW spot, and the video for "Take Care," below.) Alex Scally, one half of Beach House, summed it all up by lamenting to The New York Times that "a feeling and a sentiment and an energy has been copied and is being used to sell something we didn't want to sell." As of this writing, they're being encouraged to sue, and they may or may not take that route, but it shouldn't take legal action for agencies to understand what a dick move this is.
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AdFreak is your daily blog of the best and worst of creativity in advertising, media, marketing and design. Follow us as we celebrate (and skewer) the latest, greatest, quirkiest and freakiest commercials, promos, trailers, posters, billboards, logos and package designs around. Edited by Adweek's Tim Nudd. Updated every weekday, with a weekly recap on Saturdays.


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